The Patriots and Panthers came away with tough wins to stay undefeated, but how did the rest of the league shake up with three other undefeated teams on bye?
1. New England Patriots (Last week: 1)
The Jets were a very tough test for the Pats and they certainly passed it. Tom Brady just continues to show up every week and state his case as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.
2. Green Bay Packers (Last week: 2)
A bye week for the Packers leads into a SNF matchup in Denver next week.
3. Cincinnati Bengals (Last week: 3)
A bye week in Cincinnati as well. They travel to Pittsburgh next week.
4. Denver Broncos (Last week: 4)
The Broncos also had a bye this week, and will host Green Bay on Sunday Night Football in Week 8.
5. Carolina Panthers (Last week: 5)
Carolina was front and center on Sunday Night and they delivered like they do most weeks. The Panthers have a plan going into every week and beg you to line up and beat them. They are going to play tough, physical, hard-hitting, and fast football.
6. Atlanta Falcons (Last week: 8)
Winning on the road is never easy, but Atlanta made it look really difficult on Sunday. The Titans are one of the worst teams in the NFL and they barely squeaked out a 10-7 victory. Atlanta will look to get on a bit of a roll next week as they host the Buccaneers.
7. Arizona Cardinals (Last week: 9)
Arizona looked solid in their Monday Night Football victory against the Ravens. Outside of the last few minutes, Arizona had control of the game for nearly all of the second half. Currently the Cardinals sit at 5-2 with a two-game lead in the NFC West. If they keep playing consistent football, there is no reason they won’t be division champs.
8. Minnesota Vikings (Last week: 10)
Minnesota keeps winning the same way Carolina continues to win games. They rely on Adrian Peterson and their defense. Those two will carry this team as far as they are going to go. The emergence of rookie WR Stefon Diggs for the Vikings has been a huge boost, especially with Charles Johnson’s disappointing season.
9. Pittsburgh Steelers (Last week: 6)
The Steelers walked into a game they were bound to lose. Landry Jones played in arguably the most difficult place to play in the NFL and looked inconsistent. At the end of the day, the Steelers went 3-2 in four and a half games without Ben Roethlisberger, and that’s very impressive.
10. New York Jets (Last week: 7)
The Jets only drop because of the fact that they lost. They are clearly a very talented team, especially on defense. The questions is whether or not Ryan Fitzpatrick will be able to maintain this consistency. If he can, the Jets are a Super Bowl contender with that defense. If not, they could start slipping some games.
11. Seattle Seahawks (Last week: 11)
An impressive showing in San Francisco, but it needs to ignite a run for the Seahawks. Right now, the Vikings and Falcons own the NFC wild cards with records of 4-2 and 6-1 respectively. The Seahawks sit at 3-4 with a tough remaining schedule. If they are going to make the playoffs, the push has to start now.
12. St. Louis Rams (Last week: 16)
The Rams dominated the Browns in every aspect of the game on Sunday. They are also a tough team to figure out. Todd Gurley is the man, but what about the rest of this team? Outside of the defensive line, I don’t count on anyone on this team to make consistent contributions.
13. New York Giants (Last week: 17)
Maybe the Giants are actually good, or they’re the best of a nightmare NFC East. Until Romo are back, Eli Manning is clearly the most reliable quarterback in the division. As this season progresses, expect the Giants to start playing more shootout-style games.
14. Indianapolis Colts (Last week: 13)
The Colts are now 3-4, but will likely make the playoffs with ease. The other three teams in the division are ranked 26, 27, and 31 this week. All in all, this team is the best in what is BY FAR the worst division in football. As long as the Colts win eight games, they should have no problem winning this division.
15. Oakland Raiders (Last week: 20)
The Raiders put an absolute beatdown on the Chargers. From the first snap of that game, Oakland completely dominated San Diego physically and mentally. Derek Carr has now lead the Raiders to a 2-1 record on the road this year after the Raiders won two road games in 2012, 2013, and 2014 combined.
16. Miami Dolphins (Last week: 25)
You can ask my roommate if you would like, but once Joe Philbin was fired I said that the Dolphins would finish the year at least 8-8. This team lacked energy and enthusiasm for the game of football. Interim coach Dan Campbell has provided that excitement in Miami. I don’t think anyone wants to play them right now.
17. Philadelphia Eagles (Last week: 14)
The Eagles have to be one of the most inconsistent teams in the NFL. They have played games where they look like Super Bowl contenders (beating the Jets in New York) and then times where they look like they should have a top five pick in the 2016 draft (losing to a Romo and Dez-less Cowboys at home).
18. Buffalo Bills (Last week: 12)
Buffalo really needed their bye week to happen soon. Hopefully Tyrod Taylor can come back and give them solid play from the quarterback position. Still, the heart and soul of this team is on defense. Bills players have been registering complaints about the defense to the media.
19. New Orleans Saints (Last week: 21)
The Saints have put back-to-back wins together now that Brees is clearly healthier than early in the season. Benjamin Watson has been a very useful offensive weapon in their last three games. This defense has held down the fort for the last two weeks, and will try to continue that in Week 8 as they host the Giants.
20. Dallas Cowboys (Last week: 15)
The Cowboys are completely depleted on offense right now, and it’s part of the reason that they are not playing great defense statistically. The combination of Weeden and Cassel has not been enough for the ‘Boys this year. Dallas is hoping it can get Dez Bryant back for their matchup with Seattle next week
21. Washington Redskins (Last week: 23)
What a great comeback for the Redskins. If this game was against anyone but the second lowest team in the power rankings, they would have risen more. Granted the NFC East has been horribly mediocre, but Washington has looked better than expected.
22. San Diego Chargers (Last week: 18)
The Chargers are starting to fall into a downward spiral. After last week, it’s safe to say that there aren’t more than five or six guys on the Chargers’ roster that have had a good year. The offensive line is bad, defensive line has holes, and the linebacking core is slow and not exciting.
23. Chicago Bears (Last week: 22)
To quote NFL.com: “The Bears were off last week … and the Cubbies are off this week. Too soon?” Chicago travels to Minnesota to play the Vikings this week.
24. Cleveland Browns (Last week: 19)
Cleveland came out extremely flat in this game and lost for the 2nd consecutive week to fall to 2-5 on the season. It’s clear that McCown is not going to win enough games to make a difference this season. Johnny Football really needs to be playing. They spent a first-round pick on him and need to see if it was worth it sooner rather than later.
25. Kansas City Chiefs (Last week: 26)
The Chiefs simply HAD to win the game against Pittsburgh. They entered the game 1-5 playing a backup quarterback making his first career start at Arrowhead Stadium. Landry Jones looked like he was expected, and the Chiefs did enough on offense to keep Pittsburgh at arms length.
26. Jacksonville Jaguars (Last week: 32)
The Buffalo Bills were all the way up in the top 10 at one point this season. Now they have been knocked off by the mighty Jaguars. Coming back from London gives this team a week to rest. Week 9 pits them against the Jets.
27. San Francisco 49ers (Last week: 27)
Something we knew going into the season has been confirmed: the 49ers are just not very good. Colin Kaepernick can not be relied on to provide consistent quarterback play. The rest of the team doesn’t have any specific strengths. The team is simply too depleted from this past offseason.
28. Detroit Lions (Last week: 29)
The Lions stuck around with the Vikings for as long as they could, but it just wasn’t enough. The fact of the matter remains that this team has a really bad offensive line. Anytime the Lions play a team with a quality front seven, I would not expect them to score very many points.
29. Baltimore Ravens (Last week: 28)
The Ravens have allowed the most points per game through seven games in franchise history, outside of 1996, their inaugural year. Besides that, Joe Flacco does not have enough help on offense to produce results. As much as Forsett has started to put up better numbers, it can’t mask the lack of receivers this team has.
30. Houston Texans (Last week: 24)
Interesting statistic from the game this Sunday: at one point in the game, Miami had 35 points and Houston had 0 offensive yards. Houston was completely dominated in every way this past Sunday. Some thought this was a playoff team going into the season, clearly that’s not the case.
31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Last week: 31)
It should come as no surprise that the Buccaneers are still this low on the list. Tampa Bay absolutely blew it in Washington this past weekend and showed why they are one of the worst teams in the NFL. Doug Martin, however, has been unstoppable in the month of October, averaging over 120 yards per game.
32. Tennessee Titans (Last week: 30)
They haven’t played a game on the road in over a month, yet the only victory they have is against the Buccaneers in Week 1. In their last 16 games, the Titans are an NFL-worst 1-15. Their only win is against the Tampa Bay, who is 3-13 during that span (ESPN).